The Flywheel

Program for friDAY JUNE 27Th

Changing of the Guard

Almost X-Prez Pam Jones officially
ends her term of office and the new slate of officers
are instated. They are:

President

Mark Howe

President-elect

Ted Abreu

Treasurer

David Brown

Secretary

Jonathon Lawlis

Sergeant-at-Arms

TBD

Directors

Glenn Daggs

Liliane Koziol

Alan Baer

Rafael Madrigal

Jan Brown

EJ Shalaby

MEETING OF June 20th, 2008

Welcome, Invocation, Thought for the Day

Soon to be Ex-Prez Pam welcomed the
group. Glenn led the invocation
and his son Kade Daggs did a great job leading the pledge!

Visiting Rotarians

Pat Robertson joined us form the Orinda club and she
is our neighbor, living in El Cerrito.

Rotarians with Guests

Jan brought Todd Perlman, the Bureau
Chief for the West County Bay Area News Group (West
County Times)

Rafael Madrigal brought jeweler
Barbara Diaz.

Sid brought his wife so he “could
drink”.

Kade Daggs joined his dad Glenn.

Hank Covell brought Henry Moe.

Sunshine Report

Norm Foley fell but fortunately did
not break anything. Barbara M. had
shoulder surgery and will be recovering for several weeks. Get
better soon Norm and Barbara!

Announcements

Our Treasurer David Brown announced
that the club had approved a $1,000.00 grant to the
Richmond Art Center (RAC) for a much needed technology
upgrade, in addition to funds the club had previously
submitted. The only condition was that the hardware
purchased proudly display a “purchased through
donation from the Richmond Rotary” sticker.

Mr. Brown also announced that Rafael Cartagena will
be taking several sample prosthetic hands down to El
Salvador, for which the club has put aside $1,000.00
towards an effort to eventually hopefully provide a
few hundred hands to those in need.

Recognitions

Jan Brown celebrated a birthday on June 16th and
had a “marathon week” because in addition,
her son turned 30 (substantially diminishing her ability
to credibly claim she is 29 notwithstanding a quantum
jolt to the space-time continuum), and she celebrated
her parent’s anniversary!

Judy had a birthday on June 13th
and made a donation to Polio Plus. She spent
most of her B/D flying back from Massachusetts, her
second favorite place to visit next to Maine.

Don Hardison and wife Betty celebrated
their 60th Anniversary! Thanks to daughter Jan,
they had an “absolutely fantastic” time
and their most memorable anniversary braving a beautiful
balloon ride!

Happy and Sad Dollars

Tom Waller was happy because the
club continued funding of the Richmond Art Center.

Erle Brown was pleasantly surprised
to see his old buddy Ted Smith who
had served with Erle on the Board for the Richmond
Boys Club. Erle also acknowledged the rarity
of Ted’s stature as one of the very few (if not
only) African American Republicans in the area.

Bill Koziol was happy because his
sister had a healthy baby boy on June 10.

David Brown was happy because Leigh Johnson donated
$100.00 to the Rotary Foundation.

Rhonda Harris is the proud grandmother
of a new baby boy and is also happy because the Boston
Celtics beat L.A.

Herb Cole was happy because he had
a good time at the L.A. Rotary Convention and because
his son earned his BA in Vermont.

Hank was happy to have seen Elof twice
during the week at the ‘Y’ and has apparently
begun an exercise program.

Raffle Results

The fix was in because Glenn’s son Kade drew his
dad’s name in the Raffle. The double fix
was in because Glenn drew the Orange Ball!

THE PROGRAM

Building a Strong Financial Foundation

Richmond’s City Manager, Bill
Lindsay, and Finance
Director, Jim Goins, joined us this
week and presented an informative and optimistic
snapshot of Richmond’s
financial status.

Mr. Lindsay said his career move from Orinda to Richmond
was a great decision. "I really like
this community." He reminded us that shortly
after coming to Richmond he visited the Richmond
Rotary. Now on the occasion of his second visit,
he speculated that he may one day join the Club (he's
currently a member of the Orinda Rotary).

Mr. Lindsay
hopes that people will eventually stop referring
to Richmond's "potential" and instead recognize "the
results". But results depend on tackling the “major
building-block” — getting our city’s
financial house in order. This was a perfect segue for
his introduction of Richmond's Finance Director.

Mr. Goins' slide presentation focused on the FY 2008-2009
city budget proposal. He noted that successful
cities increasingly understand that they must be run
like businesses. Thanks to implementation of
sound financial principles and a rigorous review process
("...down to the $5 bill"), the City has gone from
having no credit
rating in March 2005, to a rating of ‘A+’ as
of May 2008.

Lending less money than the City formerly did; and
when it does lend, imposing strict re-payment conditions

Improved financial controls & sound financial principles

Investment in infrastructure

Negotiating multi-year labor agreements that
the City can live with

Mr. Goins outlined new policies that will avoid
crippling deficits:

A structural balance policy, requiring that one-time
monies only be spent on one-time expenditures

A policy limiting General Fund debt to not more than
10% of General Fund revenues. (The current debt
ratio is 2%.)

An investment policy whose first priority is safety,
then liquidity, and lastly, yield.

The City's budget is guided by these priorities:

Maintaining and enhancing a pleasant environment

A safe and secure community

Economic vitality

Effective government

A sustainable city

Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Goins are guiding our city
through a period of shrinking state and federal grant
money, while nevertheless strengthening our financial
standing. Their skill and efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Richmond has earned consecutive annual awards recongizing
exceptional financial managment, including the GFOA Distinguished
Budget Award.

-Your Rotating Editor, Joshua Surowitz

Upcoming Programs

July 4
Night skies bright, club dark.

Have a suggestion for a speaker? Please pass along
the name and contact information to Jim Young.

Writers Wanted
Got a way with words?

At least until the New Yorker magazine contacts you,
consider becoming a Flywheel editor. Talk to Jim Young
for details.